What are the 12 steps to become an Urban or Vertical Farmer?

For many years, a lot of people from all around the world have been asking the Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) the same question:

“How do I start a vertical farm?”

As I was responsible for answering the AVF inbound messages for 2 years, I’ve tried to help a ton of people with that question. Most of them were hoping for an easy answer – a one stop shop solution – but I knew from meeting a lot of different farmers and experts from all around the world, that starting an urban or vertical farm is just NOT that easy. There are just too many variables involved.

Of course, that didn’t keep me from trying to find answers to the questions of the many aspiring farmers. In that quest, two important things happened: (1) It got me highly involved with starting up the education division of the AVF (and thus Vertical Farming Academy) & (2) I ended up contacting the many experts and urban and vertical farmers from all around the world. The pioneers that were already doing what so many other people want to do. The adventurers that explored places and did things that no farmer had done before.

So after many emails, meetings, questions, and eventually video-interviews, the “12 steps to become an Urban or Vertical farmer” saw the light. And it became something that is much more valuable than a blueprint to copy an existing urban or vertical farm. The 12 steps are inspirational guidelines with detailed information on how to start your farm.

I’ll repeat that again: The 12 steps are inspirational guidelines with detailed information on how to start your farm.

So if you want to start an Urban or Vertical Farm because you are passionate about it and because you truly want to have a positive impact on this world. If you want to start your urban and vertical farm with all the good intentions in the world, then the 12 steps is perfect for you.